debonair

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Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican-born actor who starred in Hollywood dramas and candy-colored musicals in the 1940s and '50s and was perhaps best known as the debonair host of the TV drama Fantasy Island and as pitchman for the "soft Corinthian leather" of the Chrysler Cordoba, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Suave; urbane.
  2. adjective Affable; genial.
  3. adjective Carefree and gay; jaunty.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • As if the words were a cue—which they probably were—Judge Marshall entered the room at that moment, making a great effort to be as jaunty, debonair, and "young for his age" as he must have thought he looked when he made his entrance when the real game was being played. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Murder at Bridge, by Anne Austin
  • So great a change, from a free, debonair, and courtly sort of behaviour, which we formerly had found them in, to so strict a gravity as they now received us with did not a little amuse us, and disappoint our expectation of such a pleasant visit as we used to have, and had now promised ourselves. —  The History of Thomas Ellwood Written by Himself
  • Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican-born actor who starred in Hollywood dramas and candy-colored musicals in the 1940s and '50s and was perhaps best known as the debonair host of the TV drama Fantasy Island and as pitchman for the "soft Corinthian leather" of the Chrysler Cordoba, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. —  HispanicTrending
  • Ricardo Montalban (88) actor best known as the debonair and mysterious Mr. Roarke on the popular TV series —  MINISTER OF RANTS
  • URSUS [_starting visibly PHEDRO What were you about to say URSUS When one has talked to one's self for a great many years it is hard to hold one's tongue in public Enter the PRINCE--debonair and haughty. —  Clair de Lune A Play in Two Acts and Six Scenes
 

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English debonaire, gracious, kindly, from Old French, from de bon aire, of good lineage or disposition : de, of (from Latin ; see de-) + bon, bonne, good (from Latin bonus; see deu-2 in Indo-European roots) + aire, nest, family; see aerie.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English debonaire, debonere, from Old French de bon aire, French debonnaire = Provencal de bon aire = Old Italian di bon aire, di buona aria, Italian dibonaire, dibonare, dibonario, courteous, gentle, literally of good mien: de, from Latin de, of; bon, from Latin bonus, good; aire, mien: see air.
 

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/dɛbəˈnɛr/
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